UCL Discovery
UCL home » Library Services » Electronic resources » UCL Discovery

Social influences on health-related behaviour clustering during adulthood in two British birth cohort studies

Sacker, A; Cable, N; Britton, A; Kelly, Y; Mawditt, C; (2018) Social influences on health-related behaviour clustering during adulthood in two British birth cohort studies. Preventive Medicine , 110 pp. 67-80. 10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.02.007. Green open access

[thumbnail of Sacker_1-s2.0-S0091743518300343-main.pdf]
Preview
Text
Sacker_1-s2.0-S0091743518300343-main.pdf - Published Version

Download (601kB) | Preview

Abstract

Building upon evidence linking socio-economic position (SEP) in childhood and adulthood with health-related behaviours (HRB) in adulthood, we examined how pre-adolescent SEP predicted membership of three HRB clusters: “Risky”, “Moderate Smokers” and “Mainstream” (the latter pattern consisting of more beneficial HRBs), that were detected in our previous work. Data were taken from two British cohorts (born in 1958 and 1970) in pre-adolescence (age 11 and 10, respectively) and adulthood (age 33 and 34). SEP constructs in pre-adolescence and adulthood were derived through Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Conceptualised paths from pre-adolescent SEP to HRB cluster membership via adult SEP in our path models were tested for statistical significance separately by gender and cohort. Adult SEP mediated the path between pre-adolescent SEP and adult HRB clusters. More disadvantaged SEP in pre-adolescence predicted more disadvantaged SEP in adulthood which was associated with membership of the “Risky” and “Moderate Smokers” clusters compared to the “Mainstream” cluster. For example, large positive indirect effects between pre-adolescent SEP and adult HRB via adult SEP were present (coefficient 1958 Women = 0.39; 1970 Women = 0.36, 1958 Men = 0.51; 1970 Men = 0.39; p < 0.01) when comparing “Risky” and “Mainstream” cluster membership. Amongst men we found a small significant direct association (p < 0.001) between pre-adolescent SEP and HRB cluster membership. Our findings suggest that associations between adult SEP and HRBs are not likely to be pre-determined by earlier social circumstances, providing optimism for interventions relevant to reducing social gradients in HRBs. Observing consistent findings across the cohorts implies the social patterning of adult lifestyles may persist across time.

Type: Article
Title: Social influences on health-related behaviour clustering during adulthood in two British birth cohort studies
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.02.007
Publisher version: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2018.02.007
Language: English
Additional information: © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY/4.0/).
Keywords: Health behaviour; Life style; Socioeconomic factors; Longitudinal studies; Cohort studies; Cluster analysis; Models, statistical; Factor analysis, statistical; Public policy; Health policy
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10043649
Downloads since deposit
172Downloads
Download activity - last month
Download activity - last 12 months
Downloads by country - last 12 months

Archive Staff Only

View Item View Item